1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to reusable poster holders for electronic displays. In particular, the poster holder can be used with a substrate having an energizeable image thereon, such as a conductive ink forming the energizeable image. The poster holder holds the substrate and provides a connection for controlling and powering at least one portion of the energizeable image.
2. Description of Related Art
Various illuminatable displays are known. Traditional electronic display technologies utilize rigid flat panel designs. These traditional display designs utilize permanent or semi-permanent connections to connect the electrical power source to the display itself, such as soldered metal, conductive glue, various male-female insert arrangements, etc., that cooperate with abrasion-resistant leads on the display itself.
Developing technologies aim to provide thin printed display designs, generally less durable that traditional rigid displays and less than 3 millimeters in thickness but not limited to, some of which are rigid, some are flexible, some of which use flexible paper substrates, and some of which use plastic substrates. In developing thinner displays, several technologies, such as but not limited to printed conductive inks, various bistable encapsulated electrophoretics, electrochomic, electrowetting, and electroluminescent chemistries have been utilized. Some displays use on-substrate electrical/electronic switching with various devices or transistor chips or circuits. Some displays use on-substrate electrical power supplies in the form of printed or attached batteries. Some displays use off-substrate electrical power supplies and/or electrical/electronic switching. Some displays utilize printed conductive inks that do not afford the abrasion resistance of traditional designs and traditional electrical connections, which were, for example, materials like etched metals or conductive polymers.
The contents of both U.S. Pat. No. 6,753,830 to Gelbman and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/346,180 are hereby incorporated by reference. In these disclosures, different types of displays are discussed. These displays may be on a paper substrate, but the substrate could also be plastic, paper board, metals, non-metals, ceramic, pulp-based products such as paper, cardboard and cloth, as well as combinations of various materials.
While there are many different techniques for providing illuminated displays on substrates, a reliable means for energizing and holding the substrates has not been provided. The present invention provides a poster holder that is configured to energize and hold the substrates in a reliable manner and further details of the poster holder are described below.